Matt Gurney: If Cylons nuke Ottawa, can't someone elected take over?

If Cylons nuke Ottawa, can't someone elected take over?

In the Postmedia newspapers on Friday, reporter Lee Berthiaume compared Canada’s planned chain of leadership succession against the fictional benchmark set in the 2004 reboot of the sci-fi classic Battlestar Galactica. And his findings should give every Canadian pause.

In that show, the human race is virtually annihilated in a massive surprise attack by intelligent robots that we had created to serve us, with predictable anti-human results. With mankind’s cities nuked into oblivion on all of the 12 Colonies of Man and the human race reduced to a few thousand people scattered among various far-flung spaceships, the leadership of the survivors falls to Laura Roslin — a politically compromised, physically unwell woman who is the 43rd most senior official in the line of succession. And the most senior official left alive after the bombs fall.

There are many valuable lessons that can be drawn from Battlestar Galactica, not least of which is the importance of remaining eternally vigilant against all foreign foes. Especially angry, religious robots that were designed specifically to kill human beings and are capable of swiftly hacking any computer system. Indeed, that latter point is especially relevant given revelations in the recent Auditor-General’s report about the poor state of Canadian cybersecurity.

It must be pointed out that the humans’ defensive arm, the Colonial Fleet, was a far superior battle force than the Cylon armada that destroyed our worlds. It was only cyber warfare that allowed the Cylons to kill us by the billions after disabling our defences in the opening moves of their attack. The Colonial Fleet was appropriately deployed to fight a conventional war, so the Cylons attacked with unconventional means. There can be no better object lesson about the danger of always being ready to fight the last war while your enemies innovate and plan. (Because, as we know, the Cylons do have a Plan.)

For Canada, there are other lessons to be found in the Fall of the 12 Colonies. First and foremost is the need for a government to maintain democratic legitimacy, whether conducting daily business or fleeing into deep space, way past the Red Line, to avoid genocide. And that requires robust safeguards in case of the unthinkable.

Our line of succession, as the Postmedia story points out, doesn’t have 43 rungs down that particular ladder. The lowest we could go is down to good old number 37 —the Honourable Bal Gosal, Minister of State (Sport). But if Canada were to be subjected to an attack that wasn’t quite as catastrophic as the Fall of the 12 Colonies of Man — if, for example, Prime Minister Harper were to die of natural causes — who would take over?

Senator Marjory LeBreton.

Really?

No disrespect is intended to Senator LeBreton, who has a long and distinguished record of public service. She is a senior official in Mr. Harper’s government and has always served with distinction. But when one looks through her past accomplishments, one that is notably absent is winning an election. Senator LeBreton was appointed to the Senate by Brian Mulroney after years of faithful service as a Tory staffer. While this certainly leaves Senator LeBreton well equipped to understand how our federal government (or what’s left of it) would function, it also means that Canada could conceivably find itself with a prime minister who has never been elected to office. That’s unacceptable.

This is not a quirk unique to Canada. When Laura Roslin took command of the scattered human survivors, her past professional experience (before becoming secretary of education) was being a school teacher. And the United States’ line of succession also falls to unelected officials any lower than the third successor.

But while Canada may not be alone in selecting unelected officials to assume leadership in the aftermath of crises both small and existential, it is still wrong to dismiss the meaning of democracy. Should our government ever need to reassemble itself, it is appropriate that the spirit of democracy be respected, even if reality dictates some pragmatic flexibility on the finer points. Jason Kenney, who is third in line after Senator LeBreton, may not possess all of her strengths, but he does have one thing in his favour: He was chosen by the people of his constituency to represent them in a free and fair election. The Tories, with their traditional focus on increasing the democractic legitimacy of the Senate, should have known this.

The difference between Senator LeBreton and Mr. Kenney might not mean much in the face of homicidal cybernetic lifeforms and their space-borne nuclear arsenals. But it ought to mean something to us.

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